Over 90% Of Companies Admit AI Has Done Nothing For Employment Or Output: Study

Despite the global corporate rush to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) for cost-cutting and profitability, a recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) suggests the immediate impact has been negligible. After surveying nearly 6,000 top executives across the US, UK, Germany, and Australia, researchers found that over 90 per cent of firms reported no change in employment or productivity levels over the past three years.

Two-thirds of executives reported using AI, but the usage amounted to only 1.5 hours per week, while 25 per cent of respondents reported not using AI in the workplace at all.

"On average, more than 90 per cent of business managers across the four countries estimate no impact of AI on their employment over the past three years. 89 per cent report no impact of AI on their labour productivity (measured as volume of sales per employee) over the last three years," the study highlighted.

Despite the little impact, these firms remain optimistic about AI eventually coming good at workplaces. Executives believe that AI will increase productivity by 1.4 per cent and increase output by 0.8 per cent over the next three years. Over the next three years, 75 per cent of businesses expect to be using some AI technology.

"Given over 250 million people in employment over these four countries, firm executives therefore expect AI will lead to about 1.75 million fewer jobs by 2028 at existing firms," the study stated.

Currently, the most commonly cited AI uses in these firms are ‘text generation using large language models', followed by ‘visual content creation' and ‘data processing using machine learning'.

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Previous Report

This is not the first instance when a report has highlighted the lack of productivity gains from AI implementation. An MIT study published last year stated that 95 per cent of organisations that implemented AI systems were getting zero return on the investment.

"Despite $30-40 billion in enterprise investment into GenAI, this report uncovers a surprising result in that 95 per cent of organisations are getting zero return," the report titled, The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025, highlighted.

The study involved surveying 300 AI deployments while the researchers spoke to approximately 350 employees. AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot are some of the most adopted models, but only five per cent of integrated AI pilots are extracting millions in value, while the vast majority remain stuck with no measurable profit and loss (P&L) impact.